November 21, 2006

Leading English fiction publishers in India

Nilanjana Roy profiles the leading players in English fiction publishing in India, in the Business Standard.

Penguin India - Former CEO David Davidar, who now heads Penguin Canada, used to say that Penguin India had published "every Indian author of any importance", and that boast still holds true. Some authors grumble that Penguin has become a factory where the bottom line, rather than literary merit, rules. Others praise Penguin's professionalism and the effort it puts into training its staff. Most debut authors still send their manuscripts to Penguin first.

Penguin India was set up in 1985 as a joint venture between Penguin Group (one of the top 5 global publishing houses) and Aveek Sarkar of the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group. "Today, the company publishes over 200 titles every year and has an active backlist of over 750 titles," according to Penguin India's website. Penguin launched it's Indian language publishing initiative in April 2005 and has published a few titles in Hindi, Urdu and Marathi.

Roli Books: Often dubbed the "maharaja's press" for its signature coffee table books, many of which feature India's erstwhile princes, Roli Books is branching out. Pramod Kapoor started Roli in a ramshackle warehouse in Daryaganj and soon turned it into India's best-known publisher of coffee-table books. Recently, Roli has moved into fiction, general non-fiction and translations. IndiaInk, the imprint that got off to a fairy-tale start by publishing The God of Small Things, is now under its umbrella. But it's the landmark edition of Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan that indicates Roli's real USP might lie in marrying their flair for working with images-Margaret Bourke-White's searing Partition pictures, in this case-with the right book.

Rupa & Co: Rupa prides itself on knowing what the "real" reader wants-Anurag Mathur, in a previous generation, Chetan Bhagat in our time, for instance. Rupa, one of the largest in the business, has an incredibly efficient network, which makes up for its uneven editing. But publisher R K Mehra and his son Kapish Mehra both know what works in the market. It’s been a long way from Rupa’s quiet start, with two slender volumes of Bengali verse, to its present status as the publisher that others ignore at their own peril.

Rupa was founded in 1936 (yes, as far back as that!) by D. Mehra, in then Calcutta, which explains their first titles being two volumes of Bengali poems.

HarperCollins India: When HarperCollins first came into India, Penguin and Rupa prepared for a battle that never happened. HarperCollins scored minor successes, but was plagued by unrealistic expectations and trouble on the editorial front. This week, seasoned Penguin executive Karthika Karthikeyan-one of the top three there-took over at the helm. With enough editorial support, she might change HarperCollins peripatetic fortunes in India.

Picador India (no India website, only Picador Global web site): Picador India began brilliantly, and still has authors of the calibre of Amit Chaudhuri and I Allan Sealy on its list, but has stayed very small. Where it scores is in the care that goes into design and editing, and its willingness, unusual in this age, to build up a stable of literary authors rather than focus on instant bestsellers.

Picador is an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a unit of Macmillan, owned by German media group Holtzbrinck.

Tara Press (no website): Tara Press is part of India Research Press, known for working in close conjunction with authors and editors. The emphasis on design, layout and editing shifts wildly; some books are almost-perfect, others riddled with errors.

This is the odd man out. I'm surprised to find Tara Press listed as a leading English fiction publisher in India. How many novels have they published?

Random House India: New entrant Random House has just a scant handful of books to its credit-Manju Kapur's Home, Abha Dawesar's That Summer in Paris-but it seems to be in India for the long haul. Random is led by the formidably intelligent Chiki Sarkar, who packed in a wealth of experience at Bloomsbury before shifting to India. Random should be fun to watch in the next few years, if it doesn't trip up over the problems that have plagued so many other foreign publishers

Random House is another of the global publishing majors, and a part of the German media group, Bertelsmann. Interestingly, Chiki Sarkar, is the daughter of Aveek Sarkar, who owns Penguin India jointly with Penguin Group.

Comments

google search brought me to this... you should add Pirates, a publishing house based in delhi who have published Tushar Raheja's new book..they seem fairer than the rest D 1 Maharani Bagh Delhi and email - captain@pirates.ind.in

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Hi,
This is prem sharma from mumbai.
I have three novels and i am searching for best publishers.
'First date Last date,
'Lost and Found'
'On distance of two steps'
First two books are love stories however last book is based on things happend in muzafarnagar recently.

Journey as how you started,
They say two is company but three is crowd. Well, not for us! BookZeal was born when a group of three highly motivated students got together, tired of the education system but wanting to build their foundation on it, nevertheless. It took more than a hundred brainstorming sessions, trying to circumvent obstacles that lay ahead but we had one common goal – to venture out into hitherto unknown territory with a unanimous aim – customer satisfaction.
what made you to start this website
Our college (NIT, Trichy), like most of the engineering colleges, is established far from the city. To buy or sell books, we had to travel 20kms every time. Moreover, all the engineering books are pretty expensive and being students ourselves, we didn’t have to step into anybody’s shoes to know how it feels at the beginning of each academic session when we have to shell out our hard-earned pocket money for books.
With this in mind, we started exploring for some better options and we realized that, as course books remains more or less same, there would be students in college itself who would be willing to sell books which I need and students to buy books which I want to sell. But the problem is knowing who those students would be?
So we thought of coming up with a platform where students could list the books they want to sell and could see list of books available within their college. And thus we came up with bookzeal.com.

How is BookZeal.com going to be useful for students?
The survey conducted by Hindustan Times shows the low reading habits among Indian Youths. And as per National Youth Readership Survey, financial difficulties is one of the paramount reasons that hinders youth to gain knowledge.
Bookzeal brings down spending on books for students to a great extent. We surveyed few engineering students about their cost incurred on books for each semester and came up with the following statistics:
- Per semester : 6 books (curriculum and non-curriculum)
- Average Cost of Book ~ Rs 300
- Total Number of Semester : 8 Semesters

So in total a Student would end up spending Rs 6 x 300 x 8 = Rs 14400 ~ Rs 15000 but with our concept of book swapping this cost can be reduced to Rs 0 to Rs.1500.
Book Swapping!! What is that?
Well I know book swapping is completely new and unheard concept in India but it’s pretty popular in countries like US, UK etc.
We have a unique LIST-EARN-REQUEST model that makes book swapping possible.

1. List the books that you have and specify the tokens you want against that book. Tokens are the currency system at bookzeal.com
2. Anyone who needs your book will send you the request for same.
3. Arrange meeting with requester.
4. Give the book to requester and he will give you a “Token Transfer Code” which is an authorization code for transferring token from his account to your account.
5. Enter the code at bookzeal.com and tokens will be credited to your account.
6. With the earned tokens you can request book from others.
7. After reading the book, you can list it back on BookZeal.com
Like this you get to read all the books you want without spending any money or by spending very little money.
What is your aim behind bookzeal?
We aim at building a society where money is not the barrier to gain knowledge. Apart from that, as the procurement of books become easy and with such a reduced cost, we hope this will encourage students to read more as well.
How about your Marketing Strategy?
The concept of book swapping is mostly needed in colleges, so we are aiming to promote same among college students through our campus ambassador program. You can check our current campus ambassadors at http://bookzeal.com/campus-ambassadors/. To volunteer yourself for campus ambassador program, visit http://bookzeal.com/career/.
To encourage students to swap books, we are also offering free tokens on signup and for various other activities you do at bookzeal.com

About BookZeal.com co-founders

Pratik Bhopal co-founder at BookZeal.com is an MCA pass out from NIT, Trichy and has done B.Com from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.

Manoj Jain, co-founder at BookZeal.com has been working in the I.T. services field for the past 16 years and is also the Founder, Managing Director & CEO of Ishika Technologies Pvt Ltd, Kolkata.

I have written a novel Curdled Dream and in search of a traditional publisher in India. A blurb:-
When Eli goes mountaineering to escape from his querulous stepmother, stepsister, he never knew: he will accidentally fall into the Kalasha caves in an injured condition where tribal chief's daughter wants sex with him, he avoids her advances as he does not desire an intercourse without a wedlock and hates the prostitution as his belief is, better to wank than to go with a wrench.His unrequited love to Goya, his childhood sweetheart, daughter of his late father's friend, comes to an end when she marries her father's chosen man as a bridegroom, and then he goes to New York to live with his mountaineering friend, Bill, he tries to befriend a Jewish girl. The girl bluntly says, they do not date Muslim boys.

Hi This is Gurdeet Singh (Guru Kirat Stories) now i stared writing poems from 2002 now i have a good collection of poems... now i write poems, stories, script, thoughts who are related with the humanity,emotions, love, lust, doubt n today's genration life gap.. nd his routne of life.. cz they are covered by some social sites in which they lost his future. so now i need to bublish my books. and now you can watch my pages at facebook. as well as you can easily search my at GOOGLE "GURU KIRAT STORIES" Please reply me as soon as possible at my mail. id. gurukiratstories@gmail.com

Hello,
i am very much fond of reading and writing poems and stories based on fiction. i am looking for a publisher who would publish my novel based on fiction story. it is a romantic, teen and poetic novel.

Dear Sir
I have written a novel AMAZONS LOVE and I want a strong publisher who can shape my work, who can publish my work and who can sell it throughout the world.

The theme of the Book: Since the arrival of human beings on this planet girls & women are being raped, murdered and tortured. The victorious military personnel commit all loathsome inhuman sin to the slave girls & women. It is still in practice and no one opposes it. My novel is a small incarnation of this barbaric crime. It contains the different form of love. Readers will enjoy all other five chapters that are drenched with the nectar of love.

AMAZONS LOVE

The salient features of the Novel:
· It is a story of a girl & boy who born in different ethnic race. The girl loved the boy since she was not acquainted with the alphabet L O V E. It explores the different & new love sentiments.
· Two small inevitable essentials stories adorn the novel as a tributary to the main story.
· Some people will find it the manifestation of military atrocities upon girls. Please note it has been happening since the first day of human arrival on this planet.
· Its projection is not possible because it does not follow the common course of the contemporary novel. · Its correct evaluation is possible only by reading & thinking the entire novel. · The critic comments will be best complements of this novel.
· The language of the novel is very simple to widen the numbers of readers throughout the world. The beauty of the words is not considered more, but the beauty & importance of the contents are highly considered, explored & reinvented. No Idioms & Proverbs are used.
· Author breaks & crosses the barriers of indecency & decency to express the emotions in true sense. No hypocrisy is maintained.
· Except aboriginal & scheduled tribes of the world, it is true that our ancestors were a war child of the barbaric conquerors. But the story of the novel strongly condemn to this barbaric act. Nevertheless, it is still in practice and can be seen in war time in any part of the world. Many civilizations were eradicated and many were flourished this way. It is a bitter truth.
· Amazons Love is multidimensional story and there are twenty five real photographs to support the story. It comprises of about 87304words.
SHASHI KANT MISHRA
AUTHOR
703B, Shivam
Bhandup V Road West
Bombay 400078.INDIA
Tel91-22-25665215
mobile phone 919867660843
email airforcemishra1@yahoo.co.uk

Its first chapter: INTENSE LOVE - 14109 words In this the author meets with the heroine Rukhshana & her second husband Sunil and there is a struggle of Rukhshana who fought with the evil & devil. Though she was a postgraduate gynecologist,, but she was sold to the human trafficker and finally to a brothel after the end of the Bangladesh war by her own cousin brother. From the brothel middle pass labor got released her by doing marriage.

Its 2nd chapter: FLASH BACK--10836 words. In this chapter the love story of Rukhshana and Tapan is inscribed. Rukhshana was very aggressive possessive and obsessive about Tapan while Tapan was very introvert. Though Rukhshana loved Tapan from her childhood, but Tapan could not dare to expose his emotion of love to Rukhshana up to 18 years. He was compelled by Rukhshana to accept her love.

Its 3rd chapter: DMCH: 13721 words: In this chapter the student life at Dhaka Medical College & Hospitals are elaborated. A tributary story of repressed and one side love also adorns the novel.

Its 4th Chapter THE ESCAPE 7144 words: In this chapter the plight of woman and compromised love are explained.

Its 5th Chapter: THE HELL 37560 Words: It is the heart of the novel. Military atrocities and people sacrifice are the main theme.

Its 6th Chapter THE NEW ERA: It is a success story of the Rukhshana who turned the negative circumstances into very positive events. She became the Goddess of LOVE for the whole world.
IT IS VERY EMOTIONAL AND REVEAL THE CLIMAX OF LOVE.

There are many interwoven stories & thoughts that transfer the character of the person with the good & pious. Please let us know your editor’s suggestions. We don't want to send unsolicited manuscripts.

Rukhshana: She is the main heroine and star character of my novel AMAZONS LOVE around which the story of the novel is interwoven. She remains from first chapter to Last line. She is very bold and she does not lose her temper in any circumstances. She is very humorous. She is brave and well educated woman. She loved Tapan her spouse to the possible extent of emotions. Love is neatly defined by this lady in the present context. .She loved the Tapan since her childhood. But she declared it to the Tapan at the age of 18 .Her real character may be identified by reading the entire novel. She will induct the love & respect among the readers.

Tapan: Tapan is a Hindu boy while his spouse Rukhshana is a Muslim girl of different ethnic group. He can’t think about to marry Rukhshana. When Rukhshana compels him to accept her love at the age of 18 years, it is a matter of surprise for him. He was not aware that Rukhshana loved him prior to her clear declaration. He did all at the indication of her eyebrows. He was burnt alive in the presence of Rukhshana , but he died bravely. At last he instructed Rukhshana to go along with her husband Sunil who got married Rukhshana at the brothels.

Fatima: She is an orphan daughter of a port pilferer. But she has all metal to struggle with the harsh & awkward circumstances. She has pity in her heart. She received her informal education at a roman catholic church. She loves her husband. Her husband was her husband and son both. She loves her pet &stare dogs. She donates everything to her fellow persons to survive.

Sharif: An orphan boy whose activities will bring the tears in the reader’s eyes. He gave his sacrifice to save Rukhshana.

Ashutosh & Utpala portray the love and bravery simultaneously. Ashutosh innocent love and Utpala dedication & devotion to Ashutosh drags the heart of the readers. Both of them sacrifice their lives.
Rukhshana, Tapan, Ashutosh & Utpala are professional physician while Fatima got an informal education at the church.

I have written a novel AMAZONS LOVE and I want a strong publisher who can shape my work, who can publish my work and who can sell it throughout the world.

The theme of the Book: Since the arrival of human beings on this planet girls & women are being raped, murdered and tortured. The victorious military personnel commit all loathsome inhuman sin to the slave girls & women. It is still in practice and no one opposes it. My novel is a small incarnation of this barbaric crime. It contains the different form of love. Readers will enjoy all other five chapters that are drenched with the nectar of love.

AMAZONS LOVE

The salient features of the Novel:

· It is a story of a girl & boy who born in different ethnic race. The girl loved the boy since she was not acquainted with the alphabet L O V E. It explores the different & new love sentiments.

· Two small inevitable essentials stories adorn the novel as a tributary to the main story.

· Some people will find it the manifestation of military atrocities upon girls. Please note it has been happening since the first day of human arrival on this planet.

· Its projection is not possible because it does not follow the common course of the contemporary novel. · Its correct evaluation is possible only by reading & thinking the entire novel. · The critic comments will be best complements of this novel.

· The language of the novel is very simple to widen the numbers of readers throughout the world. The beauty of the words is not considered more, but the beauty & importance of the contents are highly considered, explored & reinvented. No Idioms & Proverbs are used.

· Author breaks & crosses the barriers of indecency & decency to express the emotions in true sense. No hypocrisy is maintained.

· Except aboriginal & scheduled tribes of the world, it is true that our ancestors were a war child of the barbaric conquerors. But the story of the novel strongly condemn to this barbaric act. Nevertheless, it is still in practice and can be seen in war time in any part of the world. Many civilizations were eradicated and many were flourished this way. It is a bitter truth.

· Amazons Love is multidimensional story and there are twenty five real photographs to support the story. It comprises of about 87304words.

SHASHI KANT MISHRA

AUTHOR

703B, Shivam

Bhandup V Road West

Bombay 400078.INDIA

Tel91-22-25665215

mobile phone 919867660843

email airforcemishra1@yahoo.co.uk

Its first chapter: INTENSE LOVE - 14109 words In this the author meets with the heroine Rukhshana & her second husband Sunil and there is a struggle of Rukhshana who fought with the evil & devil. Though she was a postgraduate gynecologist,, but she was sold to the human trafficker and finally to a brothel after the end of the Bangladesh war by her own cousin brother. From the brothel middle pass labor got released her by doing marriage.

Its 2nd chapter: FLASH BACK--10836 words. In this chapter the love story of Rukhshana and Tapan is inscribed. Rukhshana was very aggressive possessive and obsessive about Tapan while Tapan was very introvert. Though Rukhshana loved Tapan from her childhood, but Tapan could not dare to expose his emotion of love to Rukhshana up to 18 years. He was compelled by Rukhshana to accept her love.

Its 3rd chapter: DMCH: 13721 words: In this chapter the student life at Dhaka Medical College & Hospitals are elaborated. A tributary story of repressed and one side love also adorns the novel.

Its 4th Chapter THE ESCAPE 7144 words: In this chapter the plight of woman and compromised love are explained.

Its 5th Chapter: THE HELL 37560 Words: It is the heart of the novel. Military atrocities and people sacrifice are the main theme.

Its 6th Chapter THE NEW ERA: It is a success story of the Rukhshana who turned the negative circumstances into very positive events. She became the Goddess of LOVE for the whole world.

IT IS VERY EMOTIONAL AND REVEAL THE CLIMAX OF LOVE.

There are many interwoven stories & thoughts that transfer the character of the person with the good & pious. Please let us know your editor’s suggestions. We don't want to send unsolicited manuscripts.

Yes, for your editor review I hereby enclose first two chapters of my novel AMAZONS LOVE

Please accept & acknowledge and pass your comments.

Thanking you

S K MISHRA

ABOUT SOME IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

Rukhshana: She is the main heroine and star character of my novel AMAZONS LOVE around which the story of the novel is interwoven. She remains from first chapter to Last line. She is very bold and she does not lose her temper in any circumstances. She is very humorous. She is brave and well educated woman. She loved Tapan her spouse to the possible extent of emotions. Love is neatly defined by this lady in the present context. .She loved the Tapan since her childhood. But she declared it to the Tapan at the age of 18 .Her real character may be identified by reading the entire novel. She will induct the love & respect among the readers.

Tapan: Tapan is a Hindu boy while his spouse Rukhshana is a Muslim girl of different ethnic group. He can’t think about to marry Rukhshana. When Rukhshana compels him to accept her love at the age of 18 years, it is a matter of surprise for him. He was not aware that Rukhshana loved him prior to her clear declaration. He did all at the indication of her eyebrows. He was burnt alive in the presence of Rukhshana , but he died bravely. At last he instructed Rukhshana to go along with her husband Sunil who got married Rukhshana at the brothels.

Fatima: She is an orphan daughter of a port pilferer. But she has all metal to struggle with the harsh & awkward circumstances. She has pity in her heart. She received her informal education at a roman catholic church. She loves her husband. Her husband was her husband and son both. She loves her pet &stare dogs. She donates everything to her fellow persons to survive.

Sharif: An orphan boy whose activities will bring the tears in the reader’s eyes. He gave his sacrifice to save Rukhshana.

Ashutosh & Utpala portray the love and bravery simultaneously. Ashutosh innocent love and Utpala dedication & devotion to Ashutosh drags the heart of the readers. Both of them sacrifice their lives.

Rukhshana, Tapan, Ashutosh & Utpala are professional physician while Fatima got an informal education at the church.

I have composed a Poetry running into 300 lines on a single theame. It was appreciated by Prof. SN Pandey, HOD, English Department, BHU then. It also has consent for publishing by Dorrence Publication House, Pittsburg, USA and Author's Publication House, UK.

Infact, I would like it to be published in my motherland (i.e. in India). Would your company like to do a favour to me.

A few other poems in English may be searched and seen for taste through 'google' by putting as ' English poems by Mohan Lal Soni, India'.